NORTH MANCHESTER, IN - The Wilmington College men's swimming team competed in a dual meet on Saturday against Manchester University, an affiliate member of the OAC. This meet was the team's first since November 20. Despite a near two month hiatus from competition and a stint of tough winter training in December, the Fightin' Quakers found several lifetime and seasonal bests throughout the course of the meet. These incredible swims helped the Fightin' Quakers win 9 out of the 11 swimming events, culminating to an overall win against Manchester, 118-63. Although Wilmington College did not score in the final two events of the meet, they still posted the fastest times.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The quartet of senior David Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton), freshman Freddie Snowden (Frisco, TX/Lone Star), junior Alex Tillapaugh (Wilmington, OH/Wickenburg), and sophomore Andrew Stewart (Wilmington, OH/Clinton-Massie) joined together to kick off the meet with a first place win in the 200-yard medley relay (142.13).

• D. Spraul also competed in the 200-yard freestyle (1:55.97) and the 100-yard backstroke (57.89), claiming first place in both.

• Snowden competed individually in the 100-yard individual medley, where he finished second with a time of 1:00.47. He also competed as a non-scorer in the 100-yard breaststroke, but his time of 1:03.65 was the fastest time in the field and also a lifetime best.  

• Stewart individually claimed first place in the 50-yard freestyle, clocking in with a 22.11, as well as the 100-yard freestyle, with a time of 48.33.

•  Other team members that posted first place finishes were: sophomore David Bellus (Upper Malboro, MD/Northmont) in his first ever 1000-yard freestyle (10:54.54), senior Erik Spraul (Cincinnati, OH/Princeton) in the 100-yard individual medley (58.59) and 500-yard freestyle (5:04.50), sophomore Andrew Haga (Gahanna, OH/Westerville South) in the 100-yard butterfly (57.86).

• E. Spraul, Tillapaugh, Bellus, and freshman Jared Shoemaker (Springfield, OH/Shawnee) posted the fastest time in the 200-yard freestyle relay (1:34.77), though the event was unscored.

• Sophomore Lawrence Daya (North Canton, OH/Glen Oak) helped the team add points to their total with two lifetime best swims. A 23.91 earned him fifth-place in the 50-yard freestyle, and 57.92 earned him second-place in the 100-yard backstroke.

HEAD COACH TRIP BREEN QUOTES

• "I'm always nervous at our first meet coming back from winter break; I'm always concerned with how we will perform but at this meet we had several people get lifetime bests. We're really starting to see the progress we've been striving for."

WHAT'S NEXT

• The Fightin' Quakers dive into their home pool 1PM Saturday for an OAC dual meet against the University of Mount Union.